| If Putin is unhappy, everybody is going to be unhappy. |
...aka The Great Khan, who is the lightweight's lightweight...
’s visit to Russia received plenty of attention as the Ukraine crisis continued to build. As it turned out, the timing was worse than some had feared — Russia’s invasion of Ukraine started the PM was in Moscow. The main reason behind his visit was to advance the Pakistain Stream Gas Pipeline. This long-delayed multibillion-dollar project aims to transport imported LNG from the southern part of the country to major demand centres in the north.
The irony of the visit is that the project’s delay was partly due to Western sanctions following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. Pakistain asked a company previously attached to the project, a subsidiary of the Russian state-owned tech giant Rostec, to be replaced after it came under sanctions. Following the invasion, the pipeline is at severe risk of further delays following the significantly greater sanctions now imposed on Russia.